I knew the joke you were talking about without reading it, and I know both shows. So I do know what I’m talking about, thank you very much. The reason I came up with a different explanation is that it just doesn’t make sense to me that the Simpsons writers just now thought to insult a show that’s been off the air for ten years.
No, that wouldn’t make sense. It’s also not what happened. That episode aired quite awhile ago, when Dinosaurs was still on the air. Did you happen to notice that my link was from 1992? No, I guess you didn’t…
And another thing, Marley:
I missed nothing. MILLER is the one who brought up “hypocrisy”. He said he preferred to think them incapable of taking a shot at another show for imititating them, ostensibly because it would be hypocritical, and that they wouldn’t be hypocritical. That’s just wrong, and I pointed it out. I can’t for the life of me figure out how you guys are getting this so confused.
I don’t recall this bit, but there was a similar one that never fails to crack me up:
As roadrunner approaches, a wire tied to a stake is seen.
Wire angles upward, travels a long distance to nearby cliff.
Coyote puts on helmet with small unicycle-like wheel attached to it.
Coyote starts to balance on wire on his head, drumroll builds tension.
Coyote carefully continues getting his balance, prepares to remove hand from cliff, putting all his weight on the wire. Drumroll continues.
Coyote removes hand from cliff.
Wire snaps.
Coyote plunges 10,000 feet.
Nope, I didn’t.
It’s not hypocritical for them to take shots at other shows for imitating them because 1) other shows do imitate them and 2) they don’t pretend to be the only program on TV that is totally original. I don’t think it’s hypocritical (or implied hypocrisy) to poke fun at others in the same way you poke fun at yourself.
Allow me to quote for the second time:
No, that would, in fact, be the entire point.
You know, it would help a lot if you were actually reading the stuff you’re replying to.
See the bit in bold there? Upset. I never claimed that The Simpsons never made jokes about other shows having superficial (or deeper) similarities to themselves. My entire point has been that this doesn’t mean that Matt Groening, or any of the writers at The Simpsons, is pissed off about it. Every creative work ever made by man has borrowed from its predecessors. As much as Family Guy borrows from The Simpsons, The Simpsons has borrowed from what came before it. And, if they’ve got brain one in their heads, the writers of both shows are entirely aware of this. So, it seems to me, that such jokes must be meant in good-naturedly, and are not evidence of any sort of feud or bad blood between the two shows.
Is that clear, now?
That scene was the first thing I ever saw on “Family Guy” that got a genuine laugh out of me. They do the “it’s like the time I…” gag so many times on that series that it’s extraordinarily unfunny, but this one worked exactly because it went on entirely too long.
I’m starting to wonder if something is happening to my sense of humor, since I’m finding myself laughing at “Family Guy” more often. The evil monkey in the closet in particular. And the scene of what Brian would be like after he’d been castrated. “I LOOOOVE chocolate! But I can’t eat it, or I’ll get fat. But it’s SOOOOO GOOOOOOD!”
Oh, wow! two guys on the internet agreed on something, that MUST mean it’s right!
Obviously some people here like to argue for the sake of argument. Good bye…
Exactly what board do you think you’re posting to, anyway?